“Yes, I...”
“I am hardly a man of need.”
“Horse racing pays that well?” James asked.
When René glanced back at James, the Judge caught the semblance of a smile. “I only operate businesses that pay well.”
“Ah,” James said, motioning for them to resume sitting. He was beginning to understand. “You enjoy the sport of commerce, then.”
René tilted his head slightly. “I’m sorry?”
For an instant James remembered his wife’s sweet face, uttering that exact phrase when he spoke English too difficult for her to comprehend. He quickly ignored the tug on his heart, and concentrated on the conversation at hand. “You enjoy making money.”
Several moments passed before René spoke again. James feared the young man was losing his nerve or worse, manifesting a lie to appease him. “Yes, sir,” René said with a serious grin. “I enjoy making money.”
“Then this can all be settled easily. You need a reputable profession and I need a new overseer. We can work...”
“That’s very kind of you, sir, but I’m afraid I cannot accept.”
James narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
“I do not wish to pass judgment, what you do with your own affairs are your business.”
“But?”
“I do not approve of slavery. I will not be party to it.”
Until that moment, René felt confident he was at least winning the old man’s respect. Now, as the tension-filled moments passed between the two men, he began to doubt they would finish their conversation on amiable terms. In St. Mary Parish, slavery remained a non-debatable issue. Those opposed to the institution need look elsewhere to reside. René never publicly stated his opinion on the matter, but he could never be master over people enslaved. He would consider selling the track, but never working on the Richardson plantation.
“I see,” James finally said, his tone curt. “We’ll just have to think of something else.”
After several more awkward seconds, James leaned back in his chair again, signaling to René to relax as well. “You’re right. I don’t see you as an overseer type.”
René picked up his coffee cup and drained the lukewarm contents in an effort to escape the piercing eyes of his father-in-law. The café au lait was delicious, but the baieonne had not returned with refills and he longed for another hot cup. Anything to keep his hands busy and eyes focused on something besides James’ examining stare.
James reminded René of his own father, always scrutinizing him with contemplating gazes, as if trying to read something from René that René was unable to comprehend himself. His father, too, wished for him to leave the horse racing business, to return to Loreauville and a life of farming and cattle raising. René never dreamed of insulting his father, but farming was the last profession he’d consider.
“I can’t quite put my finger on it,” James said. “But I have a feeling your potential is underused. There’s a career here that I’m missing. One that’s perfect for you.”
René sighed, then tried to hide it inside his coffee cup. God only knew what Judge Richardson would insist he do to maintain the reputation of his fine wife’s family name. Alcée was right. He was going to be an American before he knew it.
James rose, extending his hand. “I must go. There is business I need to take care of at the plantation.”
René rose too, immediately meeting James’ handshake. “I’d like to join you if you don’t mind.”
“I do mind. I don’t want my daughter widowed before her first week as a married woman is over.”
All the kind phrases and warm smiles couldn’t have mattered more to René than the Judge’s last words. René knew he had finally been accepted; James’ faint smile confirmed his feelings.
“I appreciate the thought, Judge, but I must insist on riding with you. You should not face Henry Tanner alone.”
James instantly dropped René’s hand and straightened. “Nonsense. I want you escorting my daughter safely home. I will bring the sheriff with me.”
René nodded, glad his father-in-law had the sense to realize there was power in numbers. “Your daughter will always be safe with me.”
James placed a paternal arm on René’s shoulder and guided him toward the parlor doors. “You have a strong handshake, my boy. Have you ever thought of entering politics?”
Virginia nearly stopped breathing during Amanda’s lengthy explanation, listening intently to every horrible detail. When Amanda finally arrived at the morning’s meeting with Tanner, Virginia gasped, then expelled a deep breath.
“I have ruined you,” Sally said between sobs.
“You have not ruined me, Sally,” Amanda answered, stroking her friend’s arm to soothe her, but Sally only cried harder.
“I will never forgive myself. I have sent you off to a life with the Cajun racetrack owner.”
Virginia covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. “What are we to do?”
Thinking of René gave Amanda strength. Despite the threat of Henry Tanner looming in the distance, she still had her husband. The man she loved. “It’s not as bad as all that. He has a nice home and a wonderful family. I’ve grown quite fond of them, actually.”
Just then Amanda remembered the passionate kiss she had shared with René the night before and she smiled. Her sly grin startled Virginia, who must have thought her momentarily insane. Virginia shot Sally a concerned look, and Sally stared back, equally confused.
“I’ve grown quite fond of René as well,” Amanda confessed, a smile stealing across her lips.
Virginia displayed the signs of the Cross over her chest. “Mary, Mother of God, she’s fallen in love.”
Sally’s jaw practically hit the starched collar of her high neckline. Amanda laughed at them both. It was a pretty ironic turn of events.
“There was something between you two,” Virginia said, sending her a sideways look. “Meeting at the fence every morning, talking about Louisiana history.”
“What happened at the market that afternoon?” Sally added. “After that mysterious meeting, I could have sworn you eloped with that man.”
Amanda sighed. There was still so much to explain, but there wasn’t time. “I’ll tell all in great detail in due time. Now, you must help me find a way to get rid of Henry Tanner.”
Virginia immediately rose and opened the back door, calling the stable boy’s name. While she waited for the young slave to arrive, she wrote a note on a small piece of paper.
“The first thing your father will do is confront Mr. Tanner,” Virginia answered as she handed the boy the note, instructing him to deliver it as quickly as possible to the plantation. “If we inform him that we are on to his game, he will more than likely leave town before the Judge arrives.”
Amanda felt relieved that Virginia had thought of her father. She couldn’t imagine Tanner challenging him, but then again, she never dreamed Tanner would have kidnapped his employer’s daughter to pay off gambling debts. Watching her former nanny twist her apron in worry, Amanda wished with all her heart that her father loved Virginia in return.
“Perhaps I should bring more coffee in to the men,” Virginia stated, hoping to stall James from his duty.
“It’s cold,” Sally offered. “And we have to decide about the money.”
“How much do you have in your trust fund?” Virginia asked Amanda.
“A few hundred dollars.”
“Withdraw it. Then somehow get it to the spot Tanner talked of. If he has money in his pockets, he should have no trouble buying a ticket out of here.”
“Virginia’s right,” Sally piped in. “We have to make it easy for Tanner to leave town. Once he’s gone, we can all breathe easier.”
Fear and trepidation gripped Amanda’s heart. It seemed too risky. She would rather the bastard rot in jail. Yet, absent men don’t tell tales. The most important thing, Amanda concluded, was to rid Franklin of Henry Tanner.
“All right,” she
said. “How should we do it?”
The three women leaned forward to make their plans, but all conversation halted at the unexpected sound coming from the hallway. It was the last thing Amanda imagined she’d hear in her father’s house. Acadian René Comeaux was laughing.
As the two men entered the back parlor, all three women stared up in disbelief.
“I don’t understand,” James was saying to a smiling René, clearly at a loss over his amusement. “What is so funny about a career in politics?”
René stalled, appearing to formulate the right words. Amanda smiled. She knew what he was thinking. An Acadian never gets involved in American politics. Only René didn’t know how to explain that to her father without insulting him. She decided to rescue him by rising and snaking her arm through his.
She tried to think of something witty to say, to move the conversation in another direction, but her father turned and caught sight of her, stopping the words in her throat. His lighthearted expression turned grim. “I expect you to see my daughter safely home,” James instructed René.
“Of course,” René said, gently placing a hand over hers.
“I will be at the plantation,” James told Virginia before heading toward the door. “Do not wait dinner for me.”
Virginia rose to say something, but James left the room too quickly. As she listened for the front door to open and close, Virginia twisted the corner of her apron into knots. Amanda, too, seemed to stop breathing.
“Do not worry,” René said under his breath. “He will get the sheriff first. Now, let us go home.”
This time, Sally bolted to her feet. “She can’t!”
René hadn’t seen the young woman sitting at the far corner of the table. Amanda instantly reprimanded herself for forgetting her manners. “René, this is my best friend, Sally...”
“Baldwin.” René smiled as if he finally made the connection. “You look just like your...”
Sally rolled her eyes and sighed. “Like my brother?”
“Perhaps, mademoiselle, yes. But you are far more handsome than your brother will ever hope to be.”
Amanda watched Sally blush as René sent her a dashing smile and a complimentary bow. Politics, Amanda thought, staring at her husband who seemed to make everyone feel at ease. Of course. Why hadn’t the idea occurred to her before?
“I must borrow your wife for an hour or two,” Sally continued. “We have some charitable business to tend to.”
René gazed down at Amanda with a concerned frown and her feelings mirrored his. She had no intention of driving around town alone, with or without Sally Baldwin. Then she remembered her walk from church that morning.
“T-Emile is here with me,” Amanda said. “He should be right outside the front door. He can join us in our errands.”
René appeared disappointed. She knew that he, as much as she, was anxious to discuss the meeting with her father. “I’ll be home as soon as possible,” she whispered.
“You will return home the same time as me,” René answered sternly. “I will be here in an hour to escort you home. I assume that is enough time for your charitable work?”
Sally sent Amanda a disapproving frown, but Amanda secretly welcomed René’s company on the ride home. She felt infinitely safer with her husband than with a teenage boy.
With a bow to Virginia, René claimed Amanda’s hand and headed toward the front door. “I do have some business to tend to in town,” he told Amanda before they reached the front of the house.
“Then it will be beneficial for the both of us.” As hard as Amanda tried, the anxiety emerged in her voice. She wondered if René suspected.
He studied her hard, solemnly gazing into her eyes before leaning down and gently kissing her. Amanda’s lips trembled at the touch of his, more from the fear of what lay ahead than the passion he hoped to evoke. René moved back. “What has happened?”
She hated lying to him, but she feared Tanner lurking around the next corner waiting to hurt her husband. She wanted the horror to go away, and the only solution was to get Henry Tanner out of town.
Amanda slipped a hand behind René’s neck and lifted her lips toward his. As they kissed, René pulled her into his chest, holding her so close she could feel the dramatic beating of her heart. Thoughts of Tanner disappeared.
Horseshoes, René kept reminding himself, as he urged the ailing horse towards the blacksmith shop. It wasn’t bad enough that the Vaughn horse refused to eat, but he was lame as well and in need of shoeing. René promised its owner he would rally the horse to health, but other pressing matters were commanding his attention these days. Even now all he could think of was Amanda’s pert, upturned nose and her brilliant blue eyes just before she kissed him.
Would he miss the horse racing business? Or did anything else in the whole world matter besides being near Amanda? No, he concluded, horse racing was just a career. There were plenty others. There was only one Amanda Rose.
Grinning at the image of Amanda in his arms, he entered the dark blacksmith shop. Before he could adequately assess the situation, an all-too familiar voice sounded from behind.
“Well, if it isn’t the Cajun,” René heard Henry Tanner sarcastically exclaim. He was lounging by the far wall with two of his friends who glanced his way but didn’t smile or acknowledge him.
René stopped before the blacksmith who was working forcefully on a plowshare. He couldn’t see Tanner, but knew by the sound of his voice that he was directly behind him.
“Look at that, boys,” Tanner said, emerging from behind his horse and circling René so that they stood side by side. “A smile like that means only one thing. Could it be he’s getting a little skirt action?”
René felt the blood rush to his temple, but knew he was outnumbered.
“American girls are quite a catch,” Tanner continued. “Especially when they’re loaded with sugar cane money.”
“I’ve heard Texas is nice this time of year,” René answered unemotionally.
The teasing smile disappeared from Tanner’s lips and René straightened, bracing himself for an attack. “That’s exactly where I’m going to send you, you bastard,” Tanner hissed through his teeth.
The clanging of the blacksmith’s hammer stopped abruptly and the large, heavily muscled man moved between them. “I don’t want trouble in here. You two either take it somewhere else or I’ll call the sheriff.”
Tanner bristled at the mention of sheriff and sent the blacksmith a forceful smile. “There’s no trouble here, Sherman,” he said, slapping a hand down hard on René’s shoulder. “We’re old friends, aren’t we Cajun?”
René shoved his shoulder backwards and Tanner’s hand fell to his side. “We were never friends, Tanner.”
“No,” Tanner replied snidely, leaning in so close to René’s face, René could smell the whiskey on his breath. “You and your old lady’s horse track can go to hell.”
With that insult, René thought Tanner would pull back and leave. Instead, Tanner grinned again and moved in closer. “You know,” he said with an evil glint to his eye, “she asked for everything.”
Tanner fought to maintain his balance, but his eyes never left René’s. “But what she really wanted most of all was what I gave her on that dark buggy ride down to the bay.”
“You son-of-a-bitch,” René said bitterly. “I should kill you right here.”
Tanner laughed, then leaned close, literally spitting out his words. “That won’t keep her from calling my name when you make love to her.”
René grabbed Tanner’s shirt and flung him backwards, slamming his head against the far wall and knocking the breath from his lungs. The two companions pulled their pistols at his back, ready to come to Tanner’s aid, but René’s only focus was Tanner’s face. “You stay away from me and my wife or so help me God I will rip you to shreds.”
René tightened his grip on Tanner’s shirt to cut off his air, determined on destroying the man. Tanner started choking, his arms flailing
as he ineffectively reached for René’s hold on his throat.
The two men cocked their pistols and voiced a variety of threats, but René refused to release him. Finally, the blacksmith’s voice came through, urging him to let Tanner go before he killed the man.
With one sudden movement, René dropped Tanner to the floor. He fell choking and coughing, gasping violently for air.
René turned and angrily pushed the men to his back aside while he headed for the street. As he marched from the blacksmith’s shop he heard Tanner’s hoarse, but imminent threat.
“You can’t walk away, Cajun,” Tanner croaked. “I will get you back for this. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll see you dead.”
It took René the entire length of road back to the Judge’s house before the blood retreated from his forehead. Never had he been so angry. But then he had never threatened to kill a man before.
He wanted to kill Tanner, though. He wanted to rid St. Mary Parish of that blight of humanity. More than anything he wanted to stop the words Tanner uttered from echoing in his mind.
She asked for everything.
René could quickly dismiss his accusations. Tanner would say anything to get what he wanted. But Amanda admitted the affair was her fault on more than one occasion. What was it she had said when he found her at Port Cocodrie? She had looked up into his eyes and spoken the truth.
I have done something terrible.
When René came to fetch Amanda at her father’s house, she appeared out of breath, but anxious to return home. They quickly made their good-byes and headed out of town. Feeling the blood still pounding through his temples, René chose to remain silent on the drive home. Surprisingly, Amanda did the same. Funny, he thought, that she didn’t question him about his meeting with the Judge.
When they reached the farmhouse, René jumped down from the buggy and helped his wife to the ground. “I have to take the horse to the stables,” he said unemotionally.
Amanda grabbed his hand and looked beseechingly into his eyes. She appeared as if she wanted to talk, but René was in no mood to listen. “Is something wrong?”
A Cajun Dream (The Cajun Series Book 5) Page 20